We are pleased to congratulate the two latest graduates of the C.I.A. Services Seminar Series. Bertha Gonzales and Arnold Arevalo both completed all seven seminars when they attended the Practical Deed Restriction Management seminar in March.

Bertha is on the Board of Directors of the Eldridge Park Village Community Association in Sugar Land. Arnold is on the Board of Directors of the Settlers Park Homeowners Association in Sugar Land. In addition to their graduation diploma, suitable for framing, they will enjoy weekend get-aways on us at the Kemah Boardwalk Inn.

Ralph Troiano congratulating Arnold Arevelo		Graduate Bertha Gonzalez

We could not have asked for a more exciting game for our 9th annual C.I.A. Services Hockey Night with the Houston Aeros. On March 13th, the Houston Aeros took on their division rival the Peoria Rivermen. Both were battling for the final playoff spot so a lot was on the line. The game was close and at the end of regulation, the score was tied 3-3. There were good chances on both sides in overtime but neither team scored. Finally in a sudden death shoot-out, the final Aeros shooter scored to win the game!

More than 550 guests joined us for a great time. We gave out lots of door prizes including several items signed by Aeros players. Our popular custom imprinted cowbells were popular and kept our end of the ice rocking. Take look at the photos to see how much fun we had. Hope you can join us next year.

Caution Legislation Ahead

Last month we reported on a number of bills that have been filed relating to community associations. A new omnibus bill has been introduced which is raising a great deal of concern. Senate bill 979 by Senator Royce West targets both community associations and management companies. The substitute bill is being considered by Senator West's own Intergovernmental Affairs Committee but here are a few of the concerns with the substitute bill.

• Board membership - The bill imposes term limits by prohibiting a board member from serving more than 6 consecutive years. All communities would love to have lots of people willing to volunteer their time to be on the board but this isn't always the case. Most people who serve more than 6 years now do it because of their dedication to the community and because others have not stepped forward. The senior board members bring enormous experience and knowledge to their communities. The bill also prohibits any restriction on an owner's right to run for the board - some Bylaws require, for example, an owner to be in good standing.
• Mandatory resale certificates - Since 1999, the Texas Property Code (207.003) has required community associations to provide a resale certificate with numerous attachments about the community to any owner requesting one (typically prior to a sale to a new owner). Assembling the package is time consuming but a reasonable fee can be charged. In most of our communities, only a small percentage of purchasers request the certificate. This bill make resale certificates mandatory on all sales forcing all sellers or buyers to pay this extra cost. Some of the attachments to the certificate are available for free on our website but we need to charge for them if we reproduce them and include them in the resale certificate. This will require an enormous additional effort for all management companies and a huge burden for self-managed associations. At C.I.A. Services, we generated less than 500 resale certificates in 2006. Under this law, we would need to generate over 7,000.
• Limitations on transfer related fees - The bill also places a hard cap of $100 on any transfer related fee. This includes resale certificates, compliance certificates, estoppel certificates, ownership records changes, priority processing and any other documents that may be required by the law, the deed restrictions or the purchaser. Because the effort and expenses to generate those documents can easily exceed the $100 cap, it will mean that management companies will need to pass on the extra expense to their clients. All residents will bear the added cost of resales. In addition, the real value of any hard cap will erode over time with inflation so the amount passed on to all residents will rise over time.
• Capitalization fees - There has been a growing trend by developers to ensure that their communities begin on a solid financial footing by providing "capitalization fees" in the deed restrictions. These fees are collected on each sale and placed in an association reserve account for specified purposes such as facility long-term maintenance. Under the proposed bill, these fees are also considered transfer related fees. All such fees (resale certificates, compliance certificates, capitalization fees, etc.) are capped at one-eighth of one percent of the sale price of the house. For an average $200,000 house in the house area, that equates to a $250 cap on all fees. If a resale certificate is mandated and the deed restrictions require a compliance certificate and the management company charges a transfer fee, then there will be no funds available for the capitalization. If a community can no use this source of revenues then they will have to ask all owners for assessment increases.
• Mandated payment plans - The bill requires associations to accept payment plans. It does allow, however, the association to reject any payment plan in excess of 12 months or from an owner who failed to honor a previous plan. Although C.I.A. Services uses payment plans extensively, including our automatic multi-payment option for the annual assessment, we are concerned that the legislature would take this business operating decision away from board members.
• Application of payments - For delinquent accounts, the bill mandates the priority in which homeowner payments will be applied. Most accounts receivable software applies payments to the oldest invoices first. Since the bill, has a different order, payments on all delinquent accounts will need to be handled manually increasing manpower and costs. Owners already have the right to specify how they would like their payment applied by just letting us know (note on the check memo line, marked up invoice, letter, etc.).
• Judicial foreclosure required - This bill prohibits "non-judicial" foreclosure by community associations even if their governing documents allow it. Mortgage companies use non-judicial foreclose when an owner defaults on their mortgage - they mail and post numerous notices and then sell the property at auction. Judicial foreclose means the association would need to file a lawsuit, obtain a judgment and then execute on the judgment by selling the property at auction. For a number of reasons, at C.I.A. Services, we almost always recommend judicial foreclosure to our associations. However, for some associations, non-judicial foreclosure is a much quicker and less expensive alternative. In either case, chapter 209 of the Texas Property Code effective in 2002, provides additional notifications and restrictions on foreclosures and also provides owners with a 180-day right of redemption after any sale.

If these issues concern you, please take a few minutes to call your representatives or the members of the Senate's Intergovernmental Affairs Committee listed below. Emails are generally ignored, letters are counted but don't carry much weight. However, when citizens take the time to call their elected representative's office, it gets their attention.

The status of the original bill, the substitute bill and all legislation can be seen at Texas Legislation Online website.

At our March meeting with Community Managers from both of our offices, we each gave updates on the special things happening in the communities we manage. We know we keep busy but we were amazed by the number of large projects underway across our communities. Here is a sampling of the major projects in planning, underway or completed in 2007.

• Bay Pointe - boulevard concrete wall repairs and cleaning - $15,000
• Colony Creek Village - install a jogging trail around detention pond with exercise stations, benches, lighting, landscaping and fence - $125,000 (in conjunction with water district)
• Colony Grant - multiphase replacement of all boulevard fences and entries with brick - $380,000 in next phase
• Country Colony - multiphase improvements to community park since 1994 - $76,000
• Crystal Lake - new phone and security camera systems for gates - $6,000
• Eldridge Park Village - new fence around park - $25,000.
• Glen Park - installing a precast, rock-style perimeter fence - $70,000
• Highlands - refurbish section 2 pool house interior and deck - $20,000
• Hunters Glen 3 - repairs to pool building and addition of security cameras - $10,000
• Hunters Glen 5 - building a community clubhouse - $200,000
• Marina Bay Park - replacing 44 wax myrtles through community with laurel oaks - $10,000
• Oak Hollow - completed constructing a precast, brick-style perimeter fence - $40,000
• Pine Brook - repairs to boulevard concrete fences - $60,000
• Post Wood - major reconstruction of swimming pool deep end and resurfacing pool and deck - $70,000
• Settlers Park - resurface swimming pools - $38,000
• Silvercreek - install two shade covers at pool - $8,000
• Silverglen North - add perimeter lighting around park and pool area - $15,000
• Southdown - various park renovations including landscape borders and new benches - $10,000
• Stablegate - playstructure, splash pad, gazebo, crushed granite path around lake, ball fields, basketball court - $169,000
• Sterling Green Village - planning for installation of a new marquee - $7,000
• Valley Lodge - planning for installation of a park pavilion - $10,000
• Westfield Glen - replace wrought iron fence around pool - $28,000

We have two great seminars scheduled for April in the popular C.I.A. Services Seminar Series: Board Member Orientation and Community Website Administrator Training. All seminars begin at 6:30 p.m. and run 2-1/2 hours. We provide a nice dinner so you don't have to rush to eat dinner beforehand.  You’ll leave with knowledge you can use immediately and a great notebook with the seminar slides, samples and reference materials.

This seminar is a must for all new Board members and a great refresher for seasoned veterans. It will help you get up to speed quickly by understanding your responsibilities and authorities. We'll review each of the documents that govern the way you do business. We'll give you an overview of collections, deed restrictions, architectural control, contracts, facilities, insurance, conduct of meetings, elections, communications and many other important topics.

• April 10, 2007 (Tuesday), 6:30 p.m. — Southwest Office
• April 26, 2007 (Thursday), 6:30 p.m. — North Office

This is the required training course for certification as a Community Website Administrator (CWSA) on the C.I.A Services web site. As a CWSA you'll be able to maintain the pages for your community. You'll be able to create news flashes, update key personnel, add community information, display photos, conduct surveys and much more. At the end of the seminar we'll give you a taste of HTML - the web language that will allow you to do some pretty advanced things if you like. Being a website administrator is very easy and you can do it from anywhere you have an internet connection.

• April 24, 2007 (Tuesday), 6:30 p.m. — North Office

The complete list of seminars and descriptions are on the Library page of our web site or you can just click here to view the information. You can register at any time by calling our Southwest Office at 713-981-9000 or emailing us at seminars@ciaservices.com.

We have had a great response to our new Electricity Savings Program (ESP) with Tara Energy. ESP allows each of our community associations to lock-in their electricity rates with significant monthly savings without compromising the stability of electricity supply.

Tara Energy, a Houston-based Retail Electricity Provider (REP), is one of the largest independently-owned REP's in Texas. Since its inception four years ago, Tara Energy has pioneered and perfected its group business model to foster long-term relationships with several associations and non-profit organizations. Tara's financial stability is evidenced by the fact that it was selected over several other large and small competitors to serve many of its customers, especially in its relationships with the Department of Defense, the Texas Hotel & Lodging Association, Texas Medical Association, and AAA Texas.

For electricity used on the common areas of the community, the Board can select terms of 1, 2, 3 or 4 years. For communities that have already signed up, savings based on their historical usage have been up to 30 percent or more. On each account converted under this program, the community will also get a $25 credit on the first month's bill.

Community residents are also eligible to sign up with Tara Energy at an average price (note 1) of 12.42 cent per kwh. That is 15 to 20% lower than similar plans from Reliant Energy and other large providers (note 2). In addition to the monthly savings, residents will also receive a $25 credit on their first bill.

As part of this program, each C.I.A. Services community will receive a quarterly "royalty" of 0.5% of the cost of electricity used on all common areas and by all residents in the community in ESP. The quarterly payment can be used for various improvements and community programs. For our part in developing ESP and overseeing the program, C.I.A. Services will receive an equal royalty.

So what are you waiting for? Think ESP and save!

(1) The average price includes electricity, transmission & distribution, monthly service charge and all other costs added by the REP. The average price is quoted at 1000 kwh of usage per month. It is the easiest way to compare proposals from various REPs.

(2) Visit www.powertochoose.org to see comparison pricing. Tara Energy is not listed on the residential comparison site because they focus on associations and non-profit organizations and do not market directly to individual consumers.

Since we began accepting online assessment payments at the end of last year, our web site has been busy (especially the last few days of each month). Owners may pay their community assessments online with a major credit card (MasterCard, American Express and Discover) or via eCheck. This service is provided by Community Association Banc, a division of 1st National Bank of Arizona, through their secure web site.

Owners benefit from being able to pay their assessments quickly and easily without the hassle and expense of writing checks and using postage. They may be able to avoid late fees if they realize at the last minute that they forgot to pay their assessments by mail. If an owner is in a small financial bind, they may elect to pay their assessments by credit card and they pay back the credit card company over a few months. And as a bonus, they may get sky miles or bonus points from their credit card company. Payments by credit card carry a convenience fee from the bank that the owner pays - payments by eCheck are free.

From our website, every community page has a button on the community menu: "Payments". Once clicked, the owner can read all about the on-line payment program. To make the payment, they select either "Credit Card" or "eCheck" to make the transaction at the secure bank site. The funds are placed in the Association's bank account the next business day. We wrote the interface to download the transactions to our management software every day.

We are pleased to offer these additional payment options to the owners in our communities. For more information about on-line payments at C.I.A. Services, click here.

We are proud of every one of our communities so it is always hard to find just one to highlight. We start by having each of our Community Managers write a nomination for one of their communities. We then read them all take a vote. Here are our most recent selections:

• April — Atascocita West Community Improvement Association
  North Office — Brenda Alvarez, Community Manager
• March — Hunters Glen section 5 Homeowners Association
  Southwest Office — Myron Bruines, Community Manager
• February — Community Association of the Highlands
  Southwest Office — Allyson Abbott, Community Manager

To see the full story on these communities and to see the past winners, visit the Community of the Month page on our web site.

Every month we appreciate the communities that are celebrating their anniversaries with us. Here are our clients that started with us in April.

• Parkway Forest Property Owners Association — 21 years
• Ridgepoint Community Improvement Association — 17 years
• Pine Forest Village Community Association — 14 years
• Marina Bay Park Community Association — 4 years
• Sonoma Ranch Homeowners Association — 4 years
• Albury Manor Property Owners Association — 3 years
• Telfair Commercial Association — 1 year

Our goal has always been to create a positive, long term relationship with all of our client communities. We are very proud to be managing all of these communities.

• Congratulations to Rhonda Culbreth, a manager support specialist, at our Southwest Office on her 17th anniversary with C.I.A. Services.
• Welcome to two new Southwest Office employees: Karen Cooper recently joined as an Community Manager and Joshalyn Richard as a Home Improvement Request coordinator.

Rhonda Culbreth		Karen Cooper		Joshalyn Richard